Relations, thoughts.

[azurelunatic]

Terrorism is bad.

Unless my conception of the whole idea behind terrorism is completely off, terrorism is what happens when a segment of political view that is not being listened to has a few of its people decide, "Fuck it -- they're going to listen to us if we KILL PEOPLE, maybe?" and go about instilling terror in people by blowing stuff up and pitching the adult and lethal version of a temper tantrum.

From everything I have seen and heard, terrorism takes place when people of a sufficiently lethal mindset are convinced that they are not being listened to, and nothing short of terrorism is going to have them get their message through. Bad international relations make for a more promising target for terrorism.


*sigh*

I'm not being clear even to myself. My point is:

1. Listening to the viewpoints of potential terrorists and giving them careful consideration is more likely to prevent these potential terrorists becoming actual terrorists than clamping down is. If somebody's bound and determined to cause destruction, they're going to cause it, but if all they wanted was someone to listen to them, then why bother terrorizing?


2. If you're an asshole to the rest of the world, everyone in the rest of the world with a bone to pick with you is that much more likely to pick it with you violently rather than talking it out peacefully.

Comments

[azurelunatic]

Heh.

Terrorism is doing on a small scale what warfare does on a large scale?

[agent139.livejournal.com]

well i'm not sure i would agree with that... its simply the only violent military action provided to individuals attempting to disrupt an organization / nation / etc which is far beyond their means to confront directly.

personally i think that terrorism is just as outdated as war in its more traditional sense. that is- if we intend on progressing, evolving. this is one of the reasons why i almost never support violent revolt within a country that has turned into a police state. revolution of the mind, yes.

suppose, for instance, that half of the citizens of a nation were so opposed to that activities of that nation that, without being explicit about it, they simply formed their own societies and communities, stopped purchasing products from certain distributors, economically leveraging themselves so that at first they 'piggybacked' the economy of the nation they existed within, and then once sufficient numbers and contacts had been arranged, started using their own currency entirely. all of this however without any active rebellion, without a flag, a banner, or credo. would the control-oriented government attempt to stop this once it found out, yes, but what would there to be to find out... less and less people watching people, no one going to mcdonalds anymore, you can't pin that down ... the issue of course is that if the majority of the people within this country are actually happy with the status quo, or unwilling to form sub-(secret?) societies, then all of this is pointless. only if it is a majority of the populace will it have any real effect- however a meme can start with one person.

just a hypothetical situation.

[boojum.livejournal.com]

I think the current government in your example would be all too likely to have squelched that sort of organization when it was small. They don't need to "pin things down"; governments have a history of going after people who are suspicious or piss them off or whatever. Large conspiracies can't be kept secret.

[agent139.livejournal.com]

you are correct unless if it is actually organic.

or not exactly an organization at all.

i think the chances of this occuring are next to none however, as i said, the general american public is... from all i have seen... born and bred for the sake of consumption. as the education budget continues to dwindle, we will find more and more corporations outsourcing technical / engineering work elsewhere. (like this hasn't been in effect for the past 15 years anyway.)

[azurelunatic]

Comparing my family's standard of living to votania's family's, and comparing the relative consumption...

My family is more likely to buy nonfrivolous durable goods, and staples. Her family is more likely to buy prepackaged crap.

My family is happier and healthier.


Hmmm.

[azurelunatic]

Could it be done without a credo/flag/so forth? It's been my experience that humans like to affiliate. Even the rebellion in Atlas Shrugged was done in the Sign of the Dollar...